This is a zine dedicated to crust,d-beat, sludge, harsh noise + related genres, traditional doom metal, gothic metal, thrash/death metal, first wave black metal,noise rock, hardcore, traditional thrash/speed metal, in dustrial metal, power/heavy/progressive metal and alternative metal, also looking for other writers into these genres, due to the fact I cant review 15 promos a day by myself, for more info contact hatredmeanswar@yahoo.com

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Detente where a band from California that played a very aggressive and melodic style of thrash metla for their time and this is a review of their double album compilation which was released in 2015 by Xtreem Music and contains their 1985 album "Recognize No Authority" their demos and also some demo's from Catalepsy a thrash band that was formed after the break up of Detente.

Demonic voices start off the album before going into a very aggressive thrash metal direction along with some vocals that are both aggressive and melodic at the same time and after awhile backup gang shouts are added into the music along with some solos and leads and some of the tracks also bring in spoken word samples.

All of the musical instruments have a very powerful sound to them and you can also hear a touch of power and speed metal in the bands musical style along with a good mixture of slow, mid paced and fast parts and some of the tracks also bring in a few bass guitar leads along with the guitar riffing and leads also utilizing a great amount of melody.

As the album progresses there is also an instrumental track which shows the band demonstrating their talent and skill as musicians and you can also hear a lot of traditional metal elements in the bands musical style and the demo tracks bring out more of a raw and NWOBHM style sound while still having a great amount of speed and thrash metal elements and there are also a few rehearsal and live tracks and and a couple of the songs also brings in a brief use of clean playing and the 87 and 89 demo tracks show more of a melodic side than the 1985 album while still having a very raw thrash metal feeling.

Detente played a style of thrash metal that was very heavy and aggressive for its time while also having a great amount of melody and the post album demo tracks also have more of a melodic style that is very close to the singer's later band Fear Of God, the production sound s very professional for the era it was recorded while the lyrics cover violent, hateful and political themes.

In my opinion Detente where a very great sounding melodic and aggressive thrash metal band for their time and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out their side of the compilation. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Russian Roulette" "Holy Wars" "Wasted Time" and "Loves Death.

Next up is Catalepsy another band that plays a very aggressive and melodic form of power/thrash metal.

A very raw, heavy and aggressive sound starts off their side of the split along with some female vocals that are both rough and melodic at the same time as well as adding a touch of power metal to the bands musical style and when solos and leads are added into the music they remain true to the 80's style of metal while also bringing in a great amount of melody.

You can hear a lot of traditional metal elements in the bands musical style and the songs also bring in a great mixture of slow, mid paced and fast parts and the second demo also shows the band adding in hard rock/metal elements into an old school power/thrash sound along with all of the musical instruments having a very powerful sound as well as adding in back up gang shouts at times and also they also close the compilation with a cover of Janis Joplin's "Piece Of My Heart".

Catalepsy played a mixture of thrash and power metal that had the perfect balance between melody and heaviness for their time while also being very aggressive, the production sounds very professional for being self released demo's while the lyrics cover dark and political themes.

In my opinion Catalepsy where a very great sounding mixture of power and thrash metal and if you are a fan of those musical genres, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Evil Within" and "Who Can You Trust".

In conclusion I feel this is a very great sounding compilation and if you are a fan of power and thrash metal, you should check out these 2 underrated bands. 8 out of 10.